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Blogging special sports events and storiesTue, 03 Mar 2015 23:00:04 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.8.3Forbes makes a case for UHhttp://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2011/09/forbes-makes-a-case-for-uh/
http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2011/09/forbes-makes-a-case-for-uh/#commentsThu, 01 Sep 2011 20:44:59 +0000http://blog.chron.com/cougars/?p=3481In the current college sports landscape, like it or not, television markets make a difference.

Because conferences receive high amounts of revenue from their contracts with broadcast partners, ratings inevitably becomes part of the conversation. That is and will be the case for the foreseeable future.

In gathering your opinions yesterday on whether a move to the Big 12 would be good for UH if the opportunity arose, I noted that what UH would bring to the Big 12 in terms of television market is a two-way argument. Some argue that the University of Texas already brings in the Houston TV sets while others say that adding UH would be of great significance to the Big 12′s viability with the large number of television sets that exist in the market.

Forbes, which covers business and sports business, has a piece up that delves into the numbers and it’s interesting to note what came out. Sports business reporter Kristi Dosh, who runs the blog “The Business of College Sports,” wrote this piece for Forbes which details the positives that UH would bring to the Big 12. What I found most interesting was a look at some sample TV ratings numbers from football games in the last few years.

Among them:

8.1 Houston vs. Texas Tech (2009)
5.9 Average ratings of Big 12 games on ESPN in 2009
5.8 Average ratings of Big 12 games on ESPN in 2010
5.5 Average ratings of Big 12 games on ABC in 2010
4.7 Average ratings of Big 12 games on ABC in 2009
4.7 Houston vs. East Carolina (2009)
4.5 Houston vs. UTEP (2010)
1.5 Average ratings of Big 12 games not feature Texas-based schools

To put it in perspective, the Chronicle’s David Barron said that he’s seen Texas-Texas A&M games get in the mid-teens and the Red River Rivalry between Texas and Oklahoma get anywhere from an 8 to an 11. The 1.5 figure above goes along with something like Kansas-Kansas State or Kansas State-Iowa State or something of the like.

Will UH out-rate Texas? No. But clearly, an average UH game (against the likes of an ECU or UTEP) clearly brings something to the table. And if that game were UH-Baylor or UH-Oklahoma State, chances are the rating would be slightly higher than the mid-4s. (For reference’s sake, SEC games on CBS average in the 4.1 range locally, according to Barron).